ESSEX — It was tax money raised and not used for its intended purpose, but Essex County council voted 8-5 on Wednesday night to keep the $790,000 in savings from last year’s library strike.

Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos made the motion supporting a recommendation by administration to have the unspent funds put into a reserve account from which municipalities will be able to draw from for future capital improvements to their local library facilities.

Giving the money back to the municipalities, as a number of local councils had requested, was “just postponing the inevitable,” said Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara.

“We’re going to be coming to the door for more money,” he said.

In an earlier report, county CAO Brian Gregg advised that upgrades to existing library buildings — there are 14 branches across the county system — could cost $1.2 million over the next 10 years.

Lakeshore, Essex and Amherstburg councils all passed resolutions last fall, in the midst of the bitter 231-day CUPE strike, requesting that any savings from the labour dispute be returned to the municipalities.

Gregg said refunding the $790,000, primarily savings from not having to pay the wages of the 58 library workers on strike, could have meant a $4 cheque for each county resident.

Both he and Essex deputy Mayor Richard Meloche, who chairs the Essex County Library board, voted against the reserve fund motion.

“It’s money we just plain did not spend for services we did not get,” said Leamington deputy Mayor Hilda MacDonald. “That money absolutely needs to be returned.”

Leamington Mayor John Paterson, who voted with MacDonald against the reserve fund motion, said his town wanted its share of the savings returned with plans to put that money towards renovations to Leamington’s library facility.

Santos, who is the county library board’s deputy chairman, said the board had already received a request for capital restoration funds from Leamington and that it had already begun setting funds aside for that purpose.

LaSalle Mayor Ken Antaya said giving money back from an account that ended the fiscal year with a surplus would be precedent-setting. Santos said the reserve fund would work similarly to when the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation returned a surplus to the municipalities and his council voted to apply those savings towards local economic development pursuits.

“It’s not complicated — the only reason we’re discussing this is because of the labour dispute,” said Antaya, who seconded Santos’s motion. He said the funds in the new reserve would go to each municipality in proportion to what they had given to the county to run the library service.

Warden Tom Bain voted with the majority, made up of representatives from Kingsville, Tecumseh, LaSalle and Amherstburg deputy Mayor Bart DiPasquale.

Joining the opposition from Leamington and Essex was Amherstburg Mayor Aldo DiCarlo.

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